CEDARVILLE — Cedarville University is launching a new 12-credit-hour aerospace engineering concentration within its mechanical engineering degree program to prepare students for careers across the growing aerospace sector.
The new track arrives as employment for aerospace engineers is projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The federal agency projects an average of 3,800 job openings for aerospace engineers each year.
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The concentration builds on the university’s 35-year history of engineering education, offering both lecture-based and hands-on learning. Students will participate in interactive build projects and site visits to aerospace research and manufacturing facilities. Faculty members teaching the coursework bring professional backgrounds in the U.S. Air Force, higher education, and commercial engineering applications.
Cedarville’s established network includes graduates working across defense contractors, the military, and commercial aerospace firms.
Students in the program will gain exposure to industry developments through connections with companies such as GE Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Honeywell, and TURBOCAM.
Dr. Joe Miller serves as chair of mechanical engineering at Cedarville University. Miller noted that multiple factors contributed to the creation of the program. “The university’s decision to add a concentration stems from the convergence of three things,” Miller said. “We saw a growing international demand, current student interest, and a strong legacy of graduates contributing across many areas of the aerospace industry, including in national leadership positions.”
The university is located in southwest Ohio near Dayton, an aviation hub home to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Air Force Materiel Command. The surrounding region also encompasses GE Aerospace facilities in Cincinnati and emerging advanced-air-mobility companies in the Dayton-Springfield area.
“We’re right in the middle of a historic and growing aerospace innovation corridor,” Miller said. “Our goal is to use our location and partnerships in ways that benefit our students, faculty and the broader aerospace industry.”Cedarville also maintains institutional and government partnerships that support aerospace research and education.
The university collaborates with the Air Force Institute of Technology and participates in the Ohio Space Grant Consortium, part of NASA’s National Space Grant College and Fellowship Project.
Additionally, Cedarville holds education partnership agreements with the Air Force Materiel Command and the Air Force Sustainment Center.
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